Atlantic Canada Sea-Dee’s, Halifax

July 17, 2011

In the digital music age, there’s still a place for CD shops, particularly ones that sells East Coast music, says the owner of one such store that opened recently on the Halifax waterfront. Atlantic Canada Sea-Dee’s began business June 1 on the boardwalk between Bishop’s Landing and the new Nova Scotia Power building.

“You can’t always get a lot of it digitally. A lot of people aren’t on iTunes.”

MacGillivray, a full-time musician from Antigonish, co-owns the store with his business manager, Pam Wamback. She has worked in the tourism industry for 15 years.

MacGillivray said he wanted to open the store because in recent years he’s found it increasingly difficult to find stores willing to carry his own recordings of Celtic piano and fiddle music.

“We want to help out musicians and maybe get a little support back,” he said.

Sea-Dee’s, located in a kiosk between the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia shop and Back in Time Photos, will be open until the end of October. A co-op student from the Nova Scotia Community College has been hired to man the store for the summer.

MacGillivray said the shop has just opened so he hasn’t had much feedback yet from customers.

“Everyone is very supportive that we talk to. Other businesses and also the musicians, the ones I’ve dealt with, seem really happy about it.”

Sea-Dee’s is still getting in stock from music distributors and from the artists themselves on consignment.

The shop carries various types of East Coast music but most of the 50 to 60 titles in stock now are traditional fiddle and singer-songwriter recordings, MacGillivray said.

The store carries such internationally recognized artists as Natalie MacMaster and Dave Carroll of United Breaks Guitars fame, as well as local talent, including Cape Breton’s Carmen Townsend and Angelo Spinazzola and John Chiasson of Dartmouth.

MacGillivray admits Sea-Dee’s likely wouldn’t do well in a mall but he hopes the waterfront location will be successful at showcasing East Coast talent.

“There’s a lot of stuff that perhaps people from away, the tourists, will enjoy,” he said. “The music is from here. It’s definitely unique to the area. It’s not like you can go anywhere else in the world and find the same thing.

we’re well-known for our music,” Troy MacGillivray said in a recent interview.

“You can’t always get a lot of it digitally. A lot of people aren’t on iTunes.”

MacGillivray, a full-time musician from Antigonish, co-owns the store with his business manager, Pam Wamback. She has worked in the tourism industry for 15 years.

MacGillivray said he wanted to open the store because in recent years he’s found it increasingly difficult to find stores willing to carry his own recordings of Celtic piano and fiddle music.

“We want to help out musicians and maybe get a little support back,” he said.

Sea-Dee’s, located in a kiosk between the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia shop and Back in Time Photos, will be open until the end of October. A co-op student from the Nova Scotia Community College has been hired to man the store for the summer

MacGillivray said the shop has just opened so he hasn’t had much feedback yet from customers.

“Everyone is very supportive that we talk to. Other businesses and also the musicians, the ones I’ve dealt with, seem really happy about it.

Sea-Dee’s is still getting in stock from music distributors and from the artists themselves on consignment.

The shop carries various types of East Coast music but most of the 50 to 60 titles in stock now are traditional fiddle and singer-songwriter recordings, MacGillivray said.

The store carries such internationally recognized artists as Natalie MacMaster and Dave Carroll of United Breaks Guitars fame, as well as local talent, including Cape Breton’s Carmen Townsend and AacGillivray admits Sea-Dee’s likely wouldn’t do well in a mall but he hopes the waterfront location will be successful at showcasing East Coast talent.

“There’s a lot of stuff that perhaps people from away, the tourists, will enjoy,” he said. “The music is from here. It’s definitely unique to the area. It’s not like you can go anywhere else in the world and find the same thing.”